The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) has recently issued its Action Plan for 2018, which defines guidelines, goals and initiatives that will guide its activities throughout the year. We would like to point out the following goals pointed out by the institute to tackle the patent backlog:
(a) review and republish the Resolution No. 193/2017, which regulates the expedited analysis of patent applications based on the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), in the first semester;
(b) implement legal regulation of the simplified procedure for allowance of patent applications in the second semester; and
(c) expand the international cooperation through Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) agreements during the year, which fast-track patent applications when a member of the same patent family has been allowed by a partner office. In addition to the recent launch of the agreement with the Chinese office (SIPO), and expansion of the scope of existing projects with the offices of the United States (USPTO), the BPTO aims at executing new agreements with the offices of the United Kingdom (UKIPO), Denmark (DKPTO), Russia (ROSPATENT), South Korea (KIPO), Israel (ILPO) and Mexico (IMPI).
The document reinforces the BPTO’s commitment to efficiency of its activities, and is available at http://www.inpi.gov.br/.